1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a fabric for wicking sweat or moisture, and more particularly to a fabric which wicks sweat or moisture from the skin using the difference in capillarity between two fibers composing the fabric.
2. Description of the Related Art
To facilitate absorption of the perspiration of the wearer, garments are preferably made of a textile fabric consisting of natural fiber, such as cotton, silk or linen, or by a blend of natural and synthetic fibers. Such garments, though they can absorb perspiration from the skin, cannot quickly disperse the moisture away from the skin. Once this kind of garment absorbs perspiration, a period of time is required to evaporate moisture, thus, the wearers will feel cold and clammy.
A composite textile fabric having moisture management characteristics is disclosed in an U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/569,610 dated Aug. 12, 1995 by Patrick Yeh. This application discloses a composite textile fabric for wicking moisture away from the skin of the wearer, and transporting moisture from its skin-side surface to the opposite surface. The fabric includes a skin-side fabric layer of a relatively high denier; and an outer fabric layer which includes fibers of a relatively low denier in order to pull perspiration and other body fluids form the first fabric layer.
However, the above-mentioned textile fabric has a limitation in that the denier of the outer layer must be lower than that of the skin-side layer. Also, the ability to disperse moisture is proportional to the denier ratio of the skin-side layer to the outer layer. In other words, in order to increase the ability to disperse moisture, the denier difference between these two layers is preferably elevated. However, reducing the denier of the outer layer improves the ability to disperse moisture but worsens the wearability of the textile fabric, which is not suitable for work clothing. On the other hand, if the denier of the outer layer is increased to increase the wearability of the fabric, the denier of the skin-side layer should likewise be increased to maintain its ability to disperse moisture, which causes a rough-textured skin-side layer.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management without relying on the limitation of the denier ratio between layers, and with the advantages of high wearability and comfortable texture. Moreover, the denier of the outer layer can be conditionally increased to enlarge the inter-fiber space of the outer layer, which consequently increases the ventilation and the easy dry-out effect.
It is another object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management including a number of first fibers and a number of second fibers. The first fibers are composed fibers having no indentations along the longitudinal sides of the fibers. The cross-sections of the first fibers are generally circular in shape, although a slightly irregular shape is acceptable. The second fibers are composed of fibers having multiple indentations along the longitudinal sides of the fibers multi-lobal cross-sections. Both of the fibers and the second fibers have inter-fiber spaces, which define as the spaces formed between or among adjacent fibers. The second fibers also have indentation spaces, which are defined as the spaces which are contoured by the indentations.
The capillary action of the first fibers is determined by the inter-fiber spaces of the first fibers only. The capillary action of the second fibers is determined by both the inter-fiber spaces of the second fibers and the indentation spaces of the second fibers. The indentation spaces of the second fibers are smaller than the inter-fiber spaces of the first fibers. The capillary action of the second fibers is greater than that of the first fibers.
In addition, these two fibers are made into a fabric for dispersing moisture, with the first fibers being mainly on one surface of the fabric (i.e., the surface contacting the skin) and the second fibers being mainly on another surface of the fabric (i.e., the surface away from the skin). Consequently, the moisture absorbed by the first fibers can be easily transferred to the second fibers due to the differences in capillarity of the two fibers.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management wherein the fibers are treated with a surfactant to render them hydrophilic.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management which is formed by synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon and acrylic.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management in which at least a layer of fibers contains indentations such as flutes for capillarity improvement.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management wherein the fabric is fabricated by knitting, weaving or other non-woven method.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management which is formed by regenerated fibers.
It is another object of the invention to provide a fabric for moisture management, including a number of first fibers and a number of second fibers, wherein both the first fibers and the second fibers are composed of fibers having multiple indentations. The indentation spaces of the second fibers are smaller than the indentation space of the first fibers. The indentation space of the second fibers is also smaller than the inter-fiber space of the first fiber. The capillary action induced by the second fibers is therefore greater than that of the first fibers.
These two fibers are made into the fabric for dispersing moisture, with the first fibers being mainly on one surface of the fabric (i.e., the surface contacting the skin), and the second fibers being mainly on another surface of the fabric (i.e., the surface away from the skin). Consequently, the moisture absorbed by the first fibers can be easily transferred to the second fibers due to the difference of the capillarity.